BRITISH success was hard to come by on the opening day of the $250,000 Aegon Ilkley Trophy.

There were Centre Court defeats for the four men's players who were given wild cards into the ATP Challenger qualifying.

Neil Pauffley was the first to fall, finding his form too late in a 6-2, 6-4 defeat against Australian Open doubles semi-finalist Marc Polmans.

Julian Cash followed him onto court against El Salvador Davis Cup player Marcelo Arevalo and battled hard but went down 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, while Steeton-born Jonny O'Mara was next on but suffered an ankle injury and had to retire against American Michael Mmoh.

Meanwhile, Ryan Storrie, who like Cash has developed his game in the United States, lost 6-2, 6-2 in the final game on Centre Court against Germany's Yannick Maden.

Pauffley, 27, lost the first five games against fifth seed Polmans, who is ranked 175, before breaking back.

The second set was much more competitive, and Pauffley, who won the ITF Futures tournament at Ilkley in 2009, should have broken the 20-year-old at 4-4.

However, after a mixture of brilliance and ordinaryness from the Briton, Polmans somehow held on to his delivery before breaking in the next game to win the match.

Derby-based Pauffley said: "I started slowly but then had a lot of chances to break him in the second set.

"However, I enjoy playing at Ilkley, the courts are good, the people are friendly and there is a decent crowd watching.

"I have played a final in Israel where there was only me, my opponent and the umpire!"

Tomorrow the women start qualifying for their $100,000 ITF Women's Futures tournament, and there are three Britons on Court No 2.

Francesca Jones, whose parents live in Oxenhope, is first up against fellow British wild card Alicia Barnett, and she is followed onto court by another wild card, Laura Deigman, who faces third seed Jasmine Paolini (Italy).

The experienced Emily Webley-Smith is next up against 17th seed Luksika Kumkhum (Thailand), while former Wimbledon semi-finalist Alexandra Stevenson (United States) brings up the rear against Marina Erakovic, the fifth seed from New Zealand.

Late action involving Britons will be on Centre Court and Court Five, with wild card Eden Silva meeting fourth seed Francoise Abanda (Canada) on the show court, with another wild card, Hannah McColgan, facing Natela Dzalamidze (Russia) on an outside court.

Sarah Beth Grey, the last of the six British wild cards, meets Akiko Omae (Japan) last up on Court Four.

The women share the spotlight tomorrow with the men, who will be playing their second qualifying round.